International Childhood Cancer Awareness Day (ICCD 2020)

13/05/2020

‘Artificial Intelligence and Big Data – Towards the next frontier in paediatric cancer research & innovation in Europe’

On 18 February 2020, the 10th edition of the International Childhood Cancer Awareness Day (ICCD 2020) took place at the European Parliament, hosted by MEP Patrizia Toia (IT, S&D) in collaboration between SIOP Europe (www.siope.eu), CCI-Europe (www.ccieurope.eu) and PanCare (www.pancare.eu), to explore the urgent need for life-saving innovation across the paediatric cancer pathway by means of AI and big data.

The ICCD 2020 made a powerful point that Europe’s youngest citizens affected by cancer – our children, our future – are not left behind and on the contrary can make their voices be heard, fully partake, and benefit from these novel technological and policy initiatives. The messages from healthcare professionals and parents were loud and clear:

  • Artificial Intelligence can be a powerful game changer to gain new insights in paediatric cancer genesis, allowing better treatments and better cures.
  • One example pioneering AI in this field is the EU Primage Project (www.primageproject.eu) under the EU Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme. 
  • Big data should be findable, accessible, interoperable, and reusable if it is to benefit progress in childhood cancers.

Full details are available in the press release here.

The European paediatric cancer community looks forward to working with all stakeholders to ensure that novel technologies can be fully applied for the benefit of children and adolescents with cancer, survivors, and their families.